Improvement in the manufacture of articles of felt



P. A. DAILEY.

Manufacture of Articles of Felt.

No. 198,357. Patented Dec. 18, 1877.

N. PE ERS, FHOTO LITHOGRAPHER wAsmNmuN u u UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PARLEY A. DAILEY', OF BROOKLYN, NEWYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES OF FELT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,357, dated December 18, 1877; application filed November 6, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PARLEY A. DAILEY, of Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented Improvements in the Manufacture of Articles of Felt, of which the following is the specification The object of my invention is to manufacture piano and table covers, skirts, and other articles with ornamental borders, centers, &c., in such a manner as to reduce the cost and produce a superior article to those made by ordinary processes.

In order to produce skirts, table-covers, and similar articles in which well-defined ornamentation at the edge or center only is desired, it has heretofore been the practice to take a piece of cloth or felt of the size of the cloth or of a skirt-gore, and, by embroidering, embossing, overlaying, or printing at the desired points, produce the required ornamental eEe-ct.

Embroidering or embossing is expensive, the printing or overlaying produces a very common and unfinished article, while in all cases the article is s'tifiened or increased in thickness where ornamented, interfering with its pliability, and detracting from its appearance and value.

A partial remedy is afforded by making ornamental fabric in the piece and cutting the article therefrom, and this has been adopted for some classes of skirts, but is obviously unsuitable where the article--a piano-cover, for instancemust beplain throughout the greater portion and ornamented only at the edges or center.

Loose irregular pieces of bat and fibers have also been applied by hand to sheets of batting to form patterns, and felted and ornamental fabrics have been felted to bats.

To produce an article free from the objections enumerated, I incorporate with a bat of felt a pattern material arranged so that, on the completion of the felting operation, the article with the desired local ornamentation will result.

Various modes of applying the material constituting the pattern, so as to produce any desired ornamentation at the required points, may be adopted. For instance, .a series of pins, a, Figure I, may be arranged on a block or roller, A, as retainers for threads or slivers ac, which are placed thereon by hand, or by any suitable mechanism. The threads are then brought into contact with the bat T and the pins withdrawn, leaving the threads arranged according to the pattern, after which the bat is hardened and felted, as usual.

The pattern is thus incorporated with and constitutes a part of the fabric, is homogeneous therewith, so that the article is as pliable at the ornamented portion as elsewhere, of the same thickness throughout, is lighter than those ornamented as usual, and is less clumsy and more highly finished than the latter.

As a result of this mode of manufacture, any desired ornament may be produced at any part of the article, leaving the remaining portions plainas, forinstance, monograms in the center of piano and table covers, borders at the edges, medallions in ottoman-covers, &c.

I do not limit myself to the devices described for forming and applying the pattern, as various devices may be used.

I claim 1. The mode of manufacturing articles with local ornaments, as herein specified--that is, by first arranging threads, slivers, or pieces in form and relative position to constitute apattern, applying the same, when so arranged, to a bat, and then felting the whole into one homogeneous piece.

2. The mode herein described of arranging and applying the pattern-threads-that is, by arranging said threads on pattern-pins, and then discharging them therefrom upon the face of the bat, as set forth.

3. A felt article having local ornaments consisting of threads arranged to form the desired ornamental figure or figures, and fixed by incorporation with the body, as set forth.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

P. A. DAILEY. 

